After months of speculation, the 2019 Flying Innovation Award went to the team at Gulfstream for their development of the G500 business jet. Gulfstream president Mark Burns accepted the big prize at an awards event in Oshkosh on the opening day of EAA AirVenture.
The Flying Innovation Award recognizes the most innovative product to have a reached the general aviation market in the previous year. The G500 competed for the prize against four other competitors: Garmin's TXi touchscreen flight display systems, the Pilatus PC-24 business jet, the Vashon Ranger light sport aircraft, and the Lancair Mako high-performance single.
Each of the contenders were recipients of 2019 Flying Editors' Choice awards, which were announced in January.
The editors of Flying magazine deemed the Gulfstream G500, with its innovative cockpit featuring 10 touchscreen flight displays, fly-by-wire flight controls and a whisper quiet cabin, to be the most innovative new product of the year.